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“Daddy, out please.”
Yoongi looked up at Tae from over the top of his book, one eyebrow raised. The little didn’t back down, patting the mesh screen on his playpen impatiently.
“Daddy. Out, please.” He was saying it nicely and everything! Even using ‘please!’ If his Daddy didn’t lift him out after this then his Daddy was mean and didn’t deserve bedtime cuddles. And those were sacred in their house.
“No, Tae-yah.” Yoongi said, turning back to his book. He casually crossed one leg over the other, unbothered. Tae thought that his Daddy deserved something worse than no bedtime cuddles. He couldn’t figure out what yet, though. But he will, mark his words.
“But Daddy! I said please!” Tae whined, flopping back against the padded bottom of his hellpen. It was too small to stretch out in, let alone run around or play, so he had his legs bent uncomfortably. And it was in direct sight of the couch so his Daddy could keep an eye on him without doing much. Which meant Tae couldn’t do much. “Baby wan’ out, p’eeeease?” Maybe saying it cutely would work?
“Well, maybe baby should have thought of that before he decided he was going to play kitchen, hm?” The caregiver turned the page and continued reading, not even looking at Tae, who groaned. “I’m adding another two minutes for your whining, Tae-yah, so stop it.”
“No! Want out!” Tae brought one fist down onto one of the pillows around him, making a loud fwompf sound. He did it again, and again. Maybe if he was loud and annoying enough Daddy would take him out of the hellpen so he couldn’t make the noise anymore. “Out, out, out.”
“Kim Taehyung, are you throwing a tantrum?” The little picked his head up to look at his Daddy, who was looking at him how he did when Tae was really really close to breaking a rule. But he wasn’t! He wasn’t screaming or crying or banging his- oh. Maybe he was throwing a tantrum, a little bit. Oopsie.
“No Daddy, m’sorry.” Miserably, Tae went limp and stared at the ceiling. It was so boring in here. He hated the playpen. Daddy didn’t even give him any toys or anything, he just had to sit in here and ‘think about what he did.’ He didn’t even do anything wrong, Tae just wanted to cook like Daddy! He’s a big boy, Daddy says so, he wasn’t even getting handling glass or anything. Daddy just over...overreached. Yeah. No, wait. Uh...whatever, Daddy made a big deal about nothin’!
“It’s only for another seven minutes, baby. You can make it.” Daddy said. Tae huffed, shifting so he was laying on his side, facing away from Daddy. Seven minutes was so long, he was going to die in here. He started playing with the edge of a pillowcase, pulling it until it was taut then letting it fall and repeating. He got bored of this after about a minute and rolled over. His Daddy was still reading. How did he do that? Books were so boring, they didn’t do anything. The only time books were fun was when Daddy read to him and did all the funny voices. But it wasn’t the book that was fun, it was his Daddy.
Tae sighed and laid on his back again. He felt like he was vibrating but he had nowhere to put the energy. He wanted to get up and run around or jump lots and lots and lots and lots or spin reallyreallyreally fast until he was dizzy and Daddy had to catch him ‘cause he would fall.
“Daaaaaaaddy,” He whined. “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Da-”
“Tae-yah, quiet please.”
“But Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddy,”
“Three more minutes, then Daddy will help you out, okay little tiger?”
Tae just sighed overdramatically and rolled around a bit, trying to expel as much energy as he could. Three minutes is just counting to 60 three times, he can do that.
One, two, three, four...no, he’s bored now. Tae presses his hand against the mesh of his playpen and pushes, suddenly curious to see how far he can push it. Maybe if he pushes hard enough he can topple the pen and escape. A shadow falls over him and he looks up, hand still pushing on the mesh.
“Hi, Daddy.” He smiles. Daddy smiles back at him and Tae’s heart does little flips. His Daddy is so pretty, he loves him so much. He loves it when he smiles and when he laughs and when he hugs him and kisses him on the forehead and holds his hand and when they cuddle and when Daddy reads to him and plays with him and and and- he just loves his Daddy a lot.
“What are you doing, my little escape artist?” Daddy laughs, sitting cross legged in front of the pen and putting his hand over Tae’s from the other side of the mesh. Tae wants to intertwine their fingers but he can’t right now, so he settles for doing that later.
“Pushin’, Daddy,” Tae says. He pushes a little harder for emphasis.
“You weren’t trying to upset your playpen, were you?” Daddy asks, gently bouncing their hands.
“No, wasn’t! Tae’s a good boy.” He absolutely was trying to topple the pen but what Daddy doesn’t know doesn’t get Tae in trouble, so. Daddy smiles like he knows Tae was lying but lets the matter go.
“Well, can this good boy tell his Daddy why he had to be put in the pen in the first place?”
“Cause Daddy is mean.” Tae pouts, crossing his arms.
“Try again, baby.”
“I dunno, Daddy just put me in here!”
“I think you do, Tae-yah. What’s your rule about the kitchen, little tiger?” Daddy asks, taking his hand away and making his face go all ‘serious talk.’ Tae doesn’t like the ‘serious talk’ face, it means he’s got to learn a lesson and that usually means he’s in trouble.
“‘Not without Daddy.’” Tae recites, still not quite seeing the point. He wasn’t playing with anything dangerous or breakable!
“And why are you not allowed in the kitchen without Daddy?” Daddy asks, resting his cheek on his hand and waiting. Tae whines impatiently, wanting Daddy to just tell him why he’s in trouble already. He knows it’s because Daddy wants him to figure it out for himself but he’s too little to care about that right now.
“Cause...dan’rous.” He relents.
“That’s right, it’s dangerous. There are a lot of sharp things in the kitchen, or things that can burn you. You can get hurt, baby.” Daddy sighs. He shifts so his chin is resting on both hands and frowns. “Badly, if I’m not there to make sure you’re okay. If you get hurt bad enough you might need a cast, which is like being in your playpen but all the time. I don’t want to see my baby hurt or sad, so my little tiger stays out of the kitchen unless Daddy is with him, okay?”
Tae frowns but nods sulkily. “Out now, Daddy please?”
“Yeah baby, you can come out now. Hang on,” Daddy stands with a light groan, knees popping far too loudly for a man barely reaching 30, and walks to the side of the playpen. Their first playpen was far too short, because Tae kept climbing out of it and hiding so his Daddy couldn’t put him back in it. So they’d gotten this one, which had walls that reached Daddy’s chest. However, this meant that Daddy couldn’t pick him up to put him in or take him out, so he’d done something to the side that let the mesh open and close. It was too complicated for little Tae to even think about understanding, which told Daddy that it was effective. He’d been worried Tae would learn how to undo it and escape that way.
After a moment of Daddy doing something, the side of the pen fell to the ground and Tae crawled out as fast as he could, sprawling out facedown on the plush carpet and humming in happiness. Daddy redid the side of the playpen before crouching next to his dramatic little. He ruffled his hair.
“Daddy loves you, my good boy.” Tae smiled wide and kicked his feet, happy and full of love and needing some way to express it. He giggled, rolling over to look up at his Daddy.
“Love you too, Daddy.”